Censorship exists primarily as a way to control information, tyranny cannot exist without it and deception always exists with it. Censorship and tyrants have a long history together.
A History of Censorship (Summarized)
Censorship is nothing new, we can find its existence throughout human history, though it seems to expand rapidly with the rise of the Christianity.
[et_pb_testimonial company_name="Wikipedia" url="Free speech, which implies the free expression of thoughts, was a challenge for pre-Christian rulers. It was no less troublesome to the guardians of Christianity, even more so as orthodoxy became established.
To fend off a heretical threat to Christian doctrine church leaders introduced helpful measures, such as the Nicene Creed, promulgated in 325 AD.
This profession of faith is still widely used in Christian liturgy today. As more books were written and copied and ever more widely disseminated, ideas perceived as subversive and heretical were spread beyond the control of the rulers. Consequently, censorship became more rigid, and punishment more severe. [1]
'Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information, on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient." Censorship can be conducted by governments, private institutions, and corporations'
[/et_pb_testimonial]But it wasn't until we saw the rise of the printing press in the 15th century that censorship really began to find its place in society, once again predominantly with religious groups. While the printing press aided the spread of religious literature and propaganda it also gave the same abilities to opposing religious groups.
Pope Paul IV ordered the first Index of Prohibited Books in 1559. The Index was issued again 20 times by different popes. The last Index of Prohibited Books was issued as recently as 1948, and then finally abolished in 1966.
These lists of books banned for their heretical or ideologically dangerous content, were issued by the Roman Catholic Church. Zealous guardians carried out the Sacred Inquisition, banning and burning books and sometimes also the authors.
The most famous of authors that the Catholic Church banned is undoubtedly Galileo (1633), and the most famous victims of the Inquisition’s trials must be Joan of Arc (1431) and Thomas More (1535).[1]
The church at this time controlled all literature flowing into universities and other educational facilities. To summarize this period of time, the church controlled all the information into your head and all the information you wanted to get out of your head.
The postal service also took off around the same time, first in France in the mid 15th century, the concept soon spread throughout Europe. Postal services offered and still do in many parts of the World a great way to censor information or even foods, herbs, medicines, arts, tools and just about anything else which a Government might deem prohibited.
During both major Wars of the 20th Century the postal service was the easiest way to control the flow of information, both used for propaganda and censorship of information.
Thousands of 'censors' would be employed to open each letter and check whether or not any information contained within was required to be censored.
Up until more recently, which we'll get into shortly, censorship at a tyrannical level has been limited to Countries like China, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and a handful of others. However much of the West has seen a gradual lifting of censorship over the centuries, particularly in the last century.
While it has still existed, it has been primarily for things which are deemed offensive or explicit in nature when it comes to arts and literature, defamatory or illicit substances and plants.
But with the rise of the Internet, a new breed of censorship is forming.
Censorship 2.0
The internet has brought the World many things; it has allowed for information from just about anywhere in the World to be instantaneously sent to just about anywhere else in the World. Anybody can share their thoughts and opinions in a matter of seconds with an almost unlimited audience potential, something which would have been unthinkable just 25 years ago.
It was only a couple decades ago we would need to rely on our broadcast television networks to provide us with news of current events around the World, whether it be political, sporting, war, humanitarian or scandalous. But now, well the World can know in seconds what's happening, in real-time, from different angles with different opinions attached.
As you can imagine, this poses a major problem for any Government or those who wish to control the minds of people controlling information is key to their power. This isn't a sceptical opinion on power structures, just mere fact.
Prior to the Internet, those who wish to control the World would establish their control over the information by being major stakeholders in all major media companies.
But times have changed, anyone can produce media with virtually no capital, anyone can write the news, anyone can report on the ground at a major event with a smart phone and a live stream. This is a problem, not for us, but for 'them'.
[et_pb_testimonial author="Jeremy Bentham" portrait_url="
As to the evil which results from a censorship, it is impossible to measure it, for it is impossible to tell where it ends.
[/et_pb_testimonial]The Internet Take Over
As the internet has grown the number of actual places where people reside online has actually shrunk. Today the majority of people hangout on the same platforms, these primarily consist of YouTube, Google Search, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. There are a small handful of other popular alternatives, but its limited to say the least.
This brings us back to the same problem we had pre-internet with broadcast television. A small number of people once again are now in control of the majority of the Worlds information. So while you may be able to report on news yourself around the World with your smart phone, your reliant on a third party to get your content out there to an audience. Not because there aren't other ways, but because most people use only this small handful of platforms.
While this worked well for many years, with virtually no censorship at all, it does appear these companies were quietly building their stronghold over the internet. It all began with Alex Jones and his Infowars platform and it has been a slippery slope of censorship ever since.
Alex Jones - Infowars
Its no secret what our personal opinion is on Alex Jones and his Infowars platform, we've written about it many times prior to the mass censorship he endured. However, his sudden take down does mark a pivotal time in this new wave of censorship.
On August 6th 2018 Google, Facebook and Apple removed Infowars from their platforms. Twitter followed shortly after. They all gave vague reasons for the removal, but all claimed that their user guidelines and policies were violated, which ones specifically is still pretty much unknown.
Now you could argue as private companies they are entitled to remove anyone they choose, its their service and therefore their right. Which in most cases i'd agree, however when your talking about companies that have monopolised the information highway to a point where more than 90% of people in the Western hemisphere get all their news and information from these platforms - well, its a different story. It's censorship, and it didn't end with Alex, he was just the start of something far bigger.
The Great YouTube Culling
Shortly after Infowars was deplatformed from all major networks reports began coming in from content creators all over the World that they too had been deplatformed. Google and Facebook claim that those being removed have violated their policies on hate speech and racism, however more often than not this has simply not been the case. Tens of thousands of content creators have found their livelihood come to a brutal end overnight simply for discussing controversial topics.
Since 2018 we have seen censorship on topics including Vaccines, Anti-Establishment rhetoric, False Flag events and most recently any Covid-19 related content which questions the official narrative.
Now whether this content is accurate is irrelevant, by censoring all opposing opinions and theories of the state you are giving the state unquestionable authority over what is to be deemed truth. Which is crazy when you consider how often we know these people lie and deceive.
Modern Day Book Burning
While the focus has been much on YouTube in this article, do not think for a second they are the exception. All major platforms are removing content from their platforms quicker than you can say 'Epstein Didn't Kill Himself'.
Last year Amazon began removing the sale of books from its online marketplace, this step was taken following a a letter from Congressman Adam Schiff which was sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, telling him “that Amazon is surfacing and recommending” dangerous anti-vaccine content to its consumers.
Shortly after, a vast majority of Anti-vaccine related books and media were removed from their platform.
[et_pb_testimonial author="Ai Weiwei" portrait_url="
Censorship is saying: 'I'm the one who says the last sentence. Whatever you say, the conclusion is mine.'
[/et_pb_testimonial][et_pb_image src="
David Icke and the Coronavirus Conspiracy
I'm sure you've all heard about the recent interview on London Real between host Brian Rose and David Icke. If you have yet to see this controversial interview you can find a link to the video below this section.
David Icke talked about his opinion on the current Coronavirus Pandemic, he speculated on links with 5G, he said he believed the virus didn't even exist. The interview was the second most watched livestream on Youtube that day, however, shortly after the interview finished the video was removed without warning from Youtube.
London Real attempted to re-upload a censored, cut down version of the interview, this too was removed shortly after being uploaded. London Real then went on to try and host the video on Vimeo, this was also removed.
The BBC reports [2]:
[et_pb_video src="YouTube has banned all conspiracy theory videos falsely linking coronavirus symptoms to 5G networks.
The Google-owned service will now delete videos violating the policy. It had previously limited itself to reducing the frequency it recommended them in its Up Next section.
The move follows a live-streamed interview with conspiracy theorist David Icke on Monday, in which he had linked the technology to the pandemic.
Now you have to question why this one man and his allegedly 'crazy conspiracy theories' are so concerning for the establishment. Why do they fear their narratives being challenged, if there is nothing to hide then surely David Icke spouting off this two cents on current World events should be nothing more than a little entertainment for them, right?
One Voice, One Narrative
In a World where only one voice can be heard, only one narrative spoken, the result is an unquestionable narrative. Without free and open discussion you have tyranny, this is a fact of life. We've seen the results of such censorship in Germany, in Russia, in China and other nations around the World throughout history. To control the people you control the information, this little fact is as simple as adding two to two and finding four.
Everyone deserves a voice, I do not care how different or controversial other opinions may be; I don't even care how hateful or delusional a voice maybe - they still need to be heard. A healthy society is perfectly capable of separating the trash from inspiring.
There is only one reason this kind of censorship exists and that is to protect deception.
Censorship is the key defense for deception.
Support Freedom of Speech
The best way we can currently support freedom of speech online is by supporting alternative platforms which promote as such.
LBRY is a content sharing platform built on the Blockchain, its protocol is censorship resistant. Creators are rewarded in the platforms own native cryptocurrency LBRY Credits (LBC).
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Sources:
- [1] www.beaconforfreedom.org
- [2] www.bbc.com
While writing this article we have suffered further censoring from Facebook. They have unpublished our main page on false accusations of impersonating another entity.
Please help us by sharing our articles wherever you can, also remember to follow us on all the other social platforms which have yet to censor us.
[/et_pb_cta]Originally published on our website over at OYE NEWS : https://oye.news/news/freedoms/censorship/censorship-is-the-key-defense-for-deception/